Public Disorder at Third and Main
A local man, fueled by liquor, faced municipal court after an aggressive display of affection toward women returning from a Salvation Army meeting.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Edward Otea, a wild-eyed man, was fined $30 and costs in the municipal court yesterday for hugging little Lena Cook and Mrs. Annie Wood in the public streets. Mr. and Mrs. Wood, Lena Cook and Mrs. Cook were coming home from a Salvation Army meeting when they met Otea at the corner of South Third and Main streets. Otea, who was under the influence of liquor, walked up to Mrs. Wood and put his arm around her. Suddenly he found out that he had made a mistake and then turned his attention to little Lena Cook, who was walking with her mother a short distance away. There were prospects of a lively time when Officer Thorn came running down the street and arrested the hugger. Otea's defense was that he thought he knew the parties but made a mistake, but his error proved expensive.
“Otea, who was under the influence of liquor, walked up to Mrs. Wood and put his arm around her. Suddenly he found out that he had made a mistake.”
Public order and the policing of street interactions have long been a function of Seattle's downtown management. This incident at South Third and Main reflects the Victorian-era enforcement of 'morals charges' in what was then a bustling, rough-hewn central district.
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